I’m experiencing this issue, too…super strange and a bit frustrating.
Basically it could be 2 things.
- Instagram are purging fake accounts, which results in lower followers, which is a good thing.
- The content on the account is spammy or annoys its followers, as if you are on the home screen and you see the same stuff. You naturally unfollow (or hide).
Maybe old followers noticing you also unfollowed them. Engagement has dropped alot since automation has become harder. And people do notice alot of things today. Back then they lost a follower they had 20 incoming. Put that is not the game today. Also when you start growing and become interesting people notice your actions. And yes that includes your following numbers going up and down. All that pattern.
Lately I have had people I followed not following me back. But when I tend to engage with their content after a while, they start following back.
I have had a couple of them saying. Oh we just thought you were looking for new followers. Cause all those big profiles follow and unfollow after couple of days.
So what they do, is just accept your request and wait for you to unfollow them. Nice huh. Those naughty b… 
The game of follow/unfollow is ancient and wellknown!
Ohh by the way these people I let stick around a bit longer before I unfollow again. I too can feel embarrassed sometimes 
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by your experience, is automation working now better than a year ago,or is it better to go manual?